Assessment of the relationships between agroecosystem condition and the ecosystem service soil erosion regulation in Northern Germany

Abstract

Ecosystems provide multiple services that are necessary to maintain human life. Agroecosystems are very productive suppliers of biomass-related provisioning ecosystem services, e.g. food, fibre, and energy. At the same time, they are highly dependent on good ecosystem condition and regulating ecosystem services such as soil fertility, water supply or soil erosion regulation. Assessments of this interplay of ecosystem condition and services are needed to understand the relationships in highly managed systems. Therefore, the aim of this study is twofold: First, to test the concept and indicators proposed by the European Union Working Group on Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) for assessing agroecosystem condition at a regional level. Second, to identify the relationships between ecosystem condition and the delivery of ecosystem services. For this purpose, we applied an operational framework for integrated mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services. We used the proposed indicators to assess the condition of agroecosystems in Northern Germany and regulating ecosystem service control of erosion rates. We used existing data from official databases to calculate the different indicators and created maps of environmental pressures, ecosystem condition and ecosystem service indicators for the Federal State of Lower Saxony. Furthermore, we identified areas within the state where pressures are high, conditions are unfavourable, and more sustainable management practices are needed. Despite the limitations of the indicators and data availability, our results show positive, negative, and no significant correlations between the different pressures and condition indicators, and the control of erosion rates. The idea behind the MAES framework is to indicate the general condition of an ecosystem. However, we observed that not all proposed indicators can explain to what extent ecosystems can provide specific ecosystem services. Further research on other ecosystem services provided by agroecosystems would help to identify synergies and trade-offs. Moreover, the definition of a reference condition, although complicated for anthropogenically highly modified agroecosystems, would provide a benchmark to compare information on the condition of the ecosystems, leading to better land use policy and management decisions.

Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems Services under the Proposed MAES European Common Framework: Methodological Challenges and Opportunities

“…Finally, when assessing EC, we argue that priority should be given to indicators that could be related to the ES flow measurement (e.g., soil organic matter for crop production, infiltration rate for water availability, etc. ), such as demonstrated by recent findings [51,52].…”

“…Cultural ES, in particular, should not be overlooked as they play an important role in motivating public support and assisting decision-making [53,54]. To make the best out of the available information, certain ES and EC indicators were based on tier-1 approaches (i.e., spatialization of statistical information) (Figure 2), which limited the portrayal of spatial variability and consequent explanatory power of the assessment to better assist decision-making [52]. These issues have been discussed by [55], and our analysis supports the review and directions proposed by the au-thors.…”

Modeling the Soil Erosion Regulation Ecosystem Services of the Landscape in Polish Catchments

“…As a result, soil ecosystem services are more affected by land use/land cover, land management, and soil erosion [1]. The type and the quality of soil ecosystem services are related to the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the soil, and these characteristics are influenced by various factors, such as soil erosion [4].…”

“…Depending on the composition, structure and configuration that they have in catchments, land use/land covers can accelerate and/or mitigate soil erosion. One of the most important ecosystem services provided by different land use/land covers is mitigation of soil erosion, and this also affects soil ecosystem services [4].…”

“…Agricultural land management, crop selection, and tillage management have significant impacts on soil loss rates [4,10,13,14]. Crops such as cereals, oilseeds and maize [4], and potatoes [13] are the agricultural products associated with the highest soil erosion rates, due to great amounts of tillage and the removal of crop residues of these crops [4].…”